Everybody gather round...
Ready???
I have THE solution!!!
So back in high school shop class, one of our projects was to hand solder a small PC type board, which could in turn "strip" voices by targeting specific midrange frequencies. I had failed miserably due to excelling at the bong team instead. However, this is THE way to capture the elusive and unpredictable Donnaskreech(TM). We target the specific threat, capture and eliminate this creature, very similar to hunting Chupacabras. We must build a prototype to get to Charlie Miller ASAP. We then mass produce and make millions so that heads can (at their leisure)correct every PITB...
Viola!!!!

5 stars for Pigs last run
5 stars for IA, the tapers, and Mr. Miller

RIP Pigpen
Blue Ron forever

This show is known for being the first after E72, for having the first Stella Blue, and for being the last show with Pigpen. However there are no "Pig songs" and he keeps a lower profile. People shout for Pig to sing but even the band didn't know just how sick he was (you can hear him playing – you can't really hear Keith though). It was a one-off, a few weeks after E72 and a month before four July stops. We have two AUDs [one good], but supposedly a SBD is in the vault. Oddball setlists/tapes use to circ with a few extraneous songs, and/or Pig songs, that were actually from other dates. Sometimes 20Nov71 circulated as this show, or as that date but labeled Hollywood – apparently broadcast over FM, adding confusion [plus, the Bowl's address is Los Angeles, as Hollywood is a location/subdivision and not an actual town, causing different labels]. But now it's been sleuthed and straightened, thanks to D. Melton. The first time they played the Bowl was part of a festival that Graham set up; this was the first of two times the Dead headlined, and was the show wherein a surly David Carradine walked onto the stage, and the crew surrounded him and shuffled him to the wings.

First Set. It takes a bit to warm up. Phil says that they'll play as soon as the moon approaches ninety degrees north, then jokes to requesters that he can't sing due to bronchitis. An unadorned Sugaree loses tempo, then Bobby wakes it up with Black Throated. Tennessee brings it up to '72 caliber. Me & My Uncle is as fun as it gets; punchy, guileful, shiny. You get an ace China Cat, and though Playin' may have some Donnaskreech™, it's everything a '72 should be. With good tempo underneath, Phil and Bobby add fine bass and rhythm to Loser. Pig joins on organ for Beat it On Down The Line-5. The first-ever Stella Blue is also the only one w/Pigpen. It's still a bit shaky, with lyric snafus, but it's a must-hear-once for it's uniqueness. While interacting with kids with beach balls in front of the stage, Bobby knocks over his mic on El Paso. A standard Casey Jones calls break.

Second Set. Again warming up, The Other One is where the set takes off. The organ is welcome and there are several great sections. The crash/landing into Ramble On Rose is interesting – maybe because it's the only one? The next few are solid enough but sans fireworks, though the second jam in Not Fade Away is nice (plus the Pig organ; Keith is still missing). Saturday Night wraps without an encore (a song or two short of the usual '72 2nd set).

1st Set:  B-
2nd Set: C+
Overall = 3¼ stars

Highlights:
Me & My Uncle – punchy, guileful
China Cat Sunflower – sound of the classic '72s
Playing in the Band – everything a Playin' should be
The Other One – great freakout section, welcome organ

SOURCES: Previous sources were poor qual, speedy, and/or incomplete. The miller_116272 ups the appreciation of the show as the best source, however it's still too fast in most places. The first set needs -1.25% pitch correction through Me & My Uncle. China Cat and Rider need -1%, and the rest is at concert pitch. The second set needs -2% through Ramble (except for the patch @11mins in TOO, which needs -1%). Sugar Mag, NFA and GDtRFB need -2.5% and Saturday Night needs -3%.

It's so appropriate that due to sheer accident of mic placement on this recording we get Pig cranked up on the organ at his last performance. When active, he's often the most clear instrument. If a 2 track board tape ever existed he was probably buried away in the mix. This is a good upgrade for this show and makes for a fun listen, relative to 72 AUDs it's among the better of the year.

It's basically your standard Europe 72 set, just shortened without the Pigpen songs. Pig really leans into organ on the Stella debut, though I think that one might have come across a bit better on a good board mix. I'm surprised they didn't also give the California audience a He's Gone, the Grateful Deadcast discussed how they were making changes to it in the studio that Summer for the Europe 72 album, though that may have been in July (still, I'd think they'd wanna flesh that one out on their only live gig going on for months while trying to get an album mixed). Playin isn't really long yet, but it's getting there and they shift a few gears. The big jam (and second set overall) reminds me a bit of 4/21 and 5/16's sort of abbreviated second sets, they don't screw around and keep things moving along while covering the bases one normally finds on such a journey. All in all it's not a show I get really excited about revisiting yearly, but it's definitely a tape to be heard. Thanks to all those responsible for the process of getting it to our ears.

Short and sweet, Dead Base 50 is incorrect.

Absolutely listenable and enjoyable recording. God Bless the tapers!

Thanks Charlie,Dave,and Jim for this excellent show.Relevant historically and in performance.

That Stella is beautiful....

Just because I still remember, here's a couple of minor details. In "I know you Rider when there was laughing in the audience and a slight delay of Garcia coming in singing it was because there were some children on stage playing with a beach ball. Sometime later during El Paso there is a part where Weir misses part of a verse, this was because his mic was knocked over. It was such a great party atmosphere, and the Dead were somewhat limited on time by the Bowl people but they did their best to ignore it and put on a great show in spite of needling from the Bowl people to wind it up.
Also, Pigpen and Kieth both played, one or the other prominent at different times. My personal favorite show of the Dead I ever saw. Mailed the Bowl ticket office and requested box 52, and to my amazement they gave it to me! 7.50 times 4, those were the days!

I wonder if he was allowed to tape. Or is this a real "boot leg". Kinda hard to hide in the front row.

A broken Angel sings from an organ. Pigpens last concert. Stella blue sounds awesome with Pigpen on organ. This show is one day after my birthday.

This is a real nice vintage audio recording of a concert from the summer of 1972, shortly after the band's return to the states from Europe. Interestingly, there is also a fine audience recording of a great concert from 1974 at this same historic venue. Why did the Dead not play a gig at the Hollywood Bowl in 73, I wonder?

The recording is perfectly balanced between audience and music. Other than the goofball shouting "St. Stephen" over and over again between songs, the overall vibe is truly positive -- how lucky that audience was! It must have been a real nice day. There's plenty of ecstatic shouting and a minimum of "did you remember to feed the cat?" nonsense intruding onto the tape.

Highlights from the first set are the Playin, the Stella Blue and (I can't believe I'm saying this) the Casey Jones. The last two songs are greatly enhanced by Pig's excellent organ work (the Stella Blue, especially).

The second set is short but sweet, opening with a great version of Truckin' (that's where Weir warns someone to "watch out for the wires") which again features Pig's keyboard, nice and high in the mix. The Other One has some extended meltdown but also (as usual) some brief, beautiful ventures into Dark Star territory (always a good thing in 1972!). The version of Ramble On Rose is righteous.

During OMSN Weir tells security "hey, leave him alone" so there must have been some scuffling (probably folks rushing the stage). Maybe that's why the band decides to hang it up a bit early. Their call, after all. It's not as if they hadn't already delivered the goods.

Crappy $4 bench seats way at the top of the bowl for the NRPS. During the break walked down right inbetween the UCLA football team bouncers and sat down in an empty front row center box seat for the rest of the show.
Ir was like the sea had parted.
Great show, Pigpen played the entire time, Keith wasn't there at all.

Nice to hear a good edited recording, last time I listened it was horrible.

That's Phil at the start saying, "Not anymore, man. You don't understand; bronchitis." It's my guess that somebody asked him why he didn't sing anymore, there wouldn't have been any reason for anyone to ask about Pigpen until after the show.

I wanted to publicly thank Charlie for doing such a fantastic job restoring this recording. Check out the splice he did at the dropout in the Other One at about 10:57. Getting front row seats I realized I had a chance to make a decent recording so with the equipment we had we did our best. I had always been looking for a SB of this show, but to no avail. Last year I found out that there was apparently no other complete version,so I decided it was time to share it. I'm really glad I did because now the recording is restored to sound as good as it was 39 years ago, and maybe even better. Didn't know it was Ron's last show until much later, so I was glad his organ playing was high in the mix. The sound of Garcia's guitar from his amp directly to your ears is what you are hearing, we were very close. I had never heard Stella Blue before, knew it was a new song but didn't know it was the first performance, and the only with Pigpen. This the only version I can listen to, it just doesn't sound right to me without the organ. Anyway enough rambling, and thanks again to Charley and for the nice words. This show, and 7-6-71 at the Hollywood Palladium are my favorites, both of which I was fortunate to attend.
As for the question about the group of people yelling to Weir about the hat, they had thrown a hat on stage, and it was lying a few feet away from him. It took 3 songs for them (a group in a box to my left) to get him to pick it up. He put it on for them for a minute, probably so they could take pictures and what not. Someone also threw a lit joint up there, and that's when you hear Garcia say "help prevent forest fires" as it was stepped on. I used to have pictures of all that but they were unfortunately lost.

Thanx Dave, Jim, and Charlie. Not a soundboard snob here, generally prefer the feel of the aud recordings more. Very nice job with this one esp. given the era. Front row recording! Not always the best for sound but this is great. Pig's organ is very clear. He is what perked my ear to the GD. Definitely a presence missed. What's up with the crowd yelling for Bob and the hat during set 2? I am opening my radio show (KHSU) this week with China>Rider and Truckin thru Ramble On. Peace

This is another reason why I like this site, this is one of several AUDS that I have been waiting for an update of, THNX tapers and Charlie!

Yes Keith is playing, he started on their 71' fall tour which was broadcasted live on the radio. Pig was there I hear but did not play.

The keys sure sound a lot like Keith. Wasn't he playing in addition to Pigpen by this time?

And I may need to listen again but I hear Phil and Bob speaking in the beginning...no Pig though.

Beyond that. I've always loved this show and I'm starting to take a liking to the better audience recordings from teh 70s..they just give more of the feel of the show despite the sound not being quite as perfect.

the embers of the Euro '72 box set are still glowing and now we receive an upgrade of Pigpen's last 'appearance' with the Dead.

I'll put my cards on the table and admit that I'm an 'SBS' (sound-board snob) with only occasional leanings towards those 'matrix' things. I normally stay well away from the dark side of recordings coming solely out of the audience 'environment'. But I checked this out as a matter of respect to 'The Great Man' and I wasn't let down.

It's a very 'easy to listen to' show - no horrors lurking in the background. OK, you know the era and so you know the songs and the style so I won't bore you with my interpretations.

The only thing I will say is that the first ('live') "Stella Blue" has added poignancy coinciding with ( the keyboards - who said he couldn't play? and) Blue Ron's last appearance.

The end of an era.

Thanks to all concerned - the band and those who recorded the show for posterity.

The only issue is how to fit it onto 1/2/3/4 CDs - sorry, I'm a bit of a 'Luddite' - not into mp3 players, DVDs and 'jukebox' CDs, etc., The answer, I suppose, being do all 2/3/4 and see which you prefer ......

5 Stars out of respect and, after all, it's not bad to listen to ........

The setlist I list is correct. The setlist in the above description area is wrong.